D.C. United - Stadium

Stadium

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium (RFK) has been home to D.C. United since the club's founding in 1996. RFK was built in 1961 as a dual use baseball and American football stadium. Prior to 1996, it periodically hosted soccer matches, including the 1980 Soccer Bowl, the 1993 Supercoppa Italiana, and five matches during the 1994 FIFA World Cup. When the Washington Nationals baseball team shared the field from 2005 to 2007, there were criticisms regarding problems with the playing surface and even the dimensions of the field. The D.C. United Training Complex is located north of the stadium, and is where the Reserve Division team plays.

Several regional university stadiums have been used by the team for Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup matches, including Klöckner Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1996, and George Mason Stadium in Fairfax, Virginia in 2010. Similarly, the team has also used the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, Maryland for multiple early-round games in U.S. Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions' Cup since it opened in 2001. Exhibition games have also been played in nearby FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.

In July 2006, D.C. United proposed building a new stadium along the Anacostia River as part of a redevelopment plan for Anacostia Park. However disputes with the city government about the proposal forced the team to consider other sites. In February 2009, the team announced plans for a new stadium in nearby Prince George's County, Maryland close to FedEx Field. Dubbed the Prince George's County Soccer Stadium, this proposal ran into similar trouble when the County Council voted to send a letter to the Maryland General Assembly opposing the stadium plan. Fear that the lack of a new stadium might cause the team to leave the Washington, D.C. area caused protests on May 9, 2009.

In October 2009, the Baltimore Sun reported that Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon has asked the Maryland Stadium Authority to explore the possibility of building a 17,000- to 20,000-seat soccer stadium that could serve as D.C. United's permanent home, as well as host concerts, lacrosse games and other events, to woo D.C. United to Baltimore. The proposed stadium complex, according to Dixon's letter, would be part of a "green mixed-use project" with access to light rail, Interstates 95 and 295. A potential location mentioned for the stadium is in the 42-acre (170,000 m2) Westport Waterfront project. A feasibility study has been commissioned by the Maryland Stadium Authority was expected to be released in December 2010. Since then two sites in Washington, D.C. have also been proposed, one near Buzzard Point, and one as part of a redevelopment of Capital City Market.